Although a relatively new area in digital marketing, content marketing already boasts hundreds of tools designed to enhance campaign effectiveness. These tools include both updated versions of existing marketing tools and those specifically created for the unique needs of content marketers.

Content marketers primarily invest in curation and aggregation, content creation, and workflow (Altimeter). A LinkedIn Group Partner survey revealed their biggest challenges include limited time for content creation, maintaining content variety and volume, measuring effectiveness, and budget constraints.

Prioritizing the right tool or set of tools to address these issues is crucial for content marketers in 2015.

Curata’s infographic (above) presents a comprehensive list of content marketing tools, categorized by the challenges they address:

• Producing
• Distributing
• Organizing
• Optimizing Conversions
• Measuring

Within these categories are tools for various purposes, such as social media management, blogging and CMS, analytics, personalization, and more. Let’s explore some standout tools from their Ultimate List of Content Marketing Tools.

Content Marketing Tools for Content Production

My Top Picks: My content production tool choices depend on the content type. Curata is my go-to for content curation, which led me to their infographic! Its discovery engine scours feeds, websites, social networks, and more to find relevant content. For audio, I use Audacity, a user-friendly, open-source, and free audio recorder and editor. Camtasia is unbeatable for screen capture videos or simple edits of videos shot with a decent camera. Another favorite is Evernote, which offers a handy mobile app. Other Tools to Consider: To boost and simplify your content production, explore InboundWriter for optimization, Google Docs for collaborative creation, and Kapost for a comprehensive solution. (Also, check out Meg’s tips on repurposing existing content.) We also offer a Trello editorial calendar template for streamlining your process!

Distribution Tools for Content Marketers

My Top Picks: Curata’s chart highlights SlideShare as a content syndication tool, and it’s one of my favorites, especially for sharing conference and webinar content. While it’s easy to embed SlideShares on your websites, they also have a substantial audience on their platform.

nexus-security & Distilled Present: Proven Keyword Strategy for Search Engine Success! [Webinar] from Internet Marketing Software – nexus-security Another favorite not listed here is LinkedIn, which has been instrumental in syndicate blog content and my columns in publications like Inc. Other Tools to Consider: Numerous options exist, both organic and paid. A popular paid service is Outbrain, known for promoting content across its publisher network. Traackr, Kred, and Klout help identify influencers in your niche.

Tools to Organize Your Content Efforts

My Top Pick: MarketMuse excels at pinpointing content topics and keywords that can drive significant traffic to your site.

If you find some keyword tools cumbersome, give this one a try – it’s incredibly user-friendly. While the initial crawl of a new site can take a while, subsequent keyword searches are much faster. Other Tools to Consider: Enterprise-level brands and marketers might benefit from a solution like Adobe’s Experience Manager for cross-channel organization and integration. For those seeking a more affordable option, digital asset solution Canto offers cloud-based plans starting at $49 per month for single users. This allows you to manage, upload, and share digital assets from the cloud, which is ideal for teams working remotely or from different locations.

Tools for Optimizing Content for Conversion

My Top Picks: Optimizely is remarkably advanced for a relatively new aspect of content marketing. It tracks actions like clicks, engagements, conversions, and facilitates A/B testing on dynamic pages, allowing you to direct traffic to the most effective variation. It also integrates seamlessly with major analytics tools. Another favorite is Pippity, a WordPress popup and lead capture plugin.

This plugin allows you to control popup timing and test variations to find the most effective one. Its WYSIWYG editor for creating popups offers numerous templates and customization options. Other Tools to Consider: BrightInfo optimizes website content in real-time based on user behavior analysis to enhance conversion through relevant content delivery. SumoMe, created by AppSumo, provides free tools for list building, heatmaps to track website clicks, and social sharing. It can be easily integrated by adding HTML code or installing a WordPress plugin, all for free!

Content Marketing Measurement Tools

My Top Picks: While Google Analytics remains irreplaceable, HubSpot Analytics is an essential complement. Although they share some features, HubSpot’s revenue and marketing channel analytics are invaluable for enterprise-level marketers. Its funnel analytics, which visually represent contacts by lifecycle stage, are also incredibly helpful.

Interestingly, while not my top choices for personal analytics, Alexa and Quantcast are valuable for assessing the popularity of other websites during my blog post research. Other Tools to Consider: Specialized measurement tools are emerging, such as Docalytics, which tracks user interaction with downloadable content. Parse.ly is another noteworthy content analytics platform worth exploring.

How Content Marketing Truly Works…

While a single, all-encompassing content marketing tool remains elusive, these are some of my favorites for specific tasks. Experiment with different tool combinations to suit your content marketing requirements. Draw inspiration from Curata’s comprehensive list of content marketing tools – the most extensive I’ve encountered! Feel free to share your personal favorites in the comments. Finally, delve deeper into content marketing by watching my ‘How Content Marketing Really Works’ webinar presentation with Rand Fishkin or access the full on-demand webinar here:

nexus-security & Moz Present: How Content Marketing REALLY Works [Webinar] from Internet Marketing Software – nexus-security